Historical Steps in the Evolution of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Publicat în 10. 07. 2022 de Maria Pană | Etichetat cu: teaching methods
Categorie: abordări teoretice

The European history of “foreign” language teaching in schools most probably began with the learning of Latin and Greek. Teaching these languages involved the classical method of “mental gymnastics” which focused exclusively on grammar rules, vocabulary memorization, text translations and the whole point of mastering the various declensions and conjugation was considered the proof of an adequate higher education.
In the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the “grammar schools” of England were model schools whose students practised rigorous rote learning of grammar rules, oral repetition and lots of translations. Although about 500 years ago, Latin - the classical language - was the most widely studied foreign language in Europe, since then the needs for spoken and written communication on our continent have changed and English has taken over the leading position.
Even though at first the model for learning a foreign language was rather simple and involved either self-teaching or apprenticing yourself to someone who could show you how to do it, watching, listening and trying out the new language in an artificially created context must have worked better for those who practiced their skills with a teacher than those who practiced it by themselves.
During the Industrial Revolution new models of learning became available which, considering the massive increases in population, favoured the birth of a standardized curriculum. Exported from Prussia and popularized by Horace Mann in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this paradigm of schooling, often referred to as the “factory model”, emphasized the need for a learning environment of conformity, reverence, order and respect for authority which, according to critics, often humiliated the learners and discouraged their creativity.
The 18th century brought about the introduction of English as a “modern” language in the curriculum of European schools even though, at first, its teachers used the same principles and methods of no real communication with grammar rules, vocabulary lists and sentence translations as the main attractions that had previously been used in the Latin and Greek classrooms.
The Grammar Translation Method – one of the oldest methods of teaching - was still fashionable between 1800 and 1900. It promoted high standards of intellectual performance and accuracy but relied on disconnected or obsolete language samples used for translation practice and very rare oral interaction. It does not come as a surprise that there was hardly any enjoyment for the language learners who had to memorize endless lists of words, recite abstract conjugation forms and learn long quotations by heart. Since this method failed to produce proficient communicators able to interact and use their skills in real conversational contexts it was considered ineffective by many but is still used in many schools worldwide.
At the end of the nineteenth century the Direct Method of Charles Berlitz became very popular in Germany and France as a reaction to the Grammar Translation Method and its limits. Its supporters advocated the exclusive use of the target language in the classroom, assuming that it couldn’t be “taught” and that the teachers had only to create the conditions for learning to take place. This method recommended the use of modern conversational language, including dialogues and anecdotes and intensive question-and-answer teaching activities, demonstrations and dramatization.
Another step forward the Communicative Approach we are so familiar with nowadays was made during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when the Oral-Situational Approach dominated Britain and required oral practice of all language materials and the situational introduction of new lexical and grammatical items.
The Autolingual Method (1950-1970) whose activity types included dialogues and drills as well as repetition, memorization and pattern practice , the Total Physical Response which introduced gestures and action in the process of L2 learning and the Silent Way Approach, in the 1980s and beyond, which regarded learning as a process of personal growth and promoted the use of unique materials such as coloured rods, colour coded pronunciation and vocabulary charts, anticipated and allowed the appearance of playing games and telling tales and stories inside the foreign language classroom.
The puzzle was completed with the help of the Affective –Humanistic Approach in the 1970s which introduced an emphasis on meaningful communication and lots of pair and group work activity.
Therefore, the communicative approach to foreign language teaching is what most teachers would identify as the Teaching through Playing Permit since real communication and interaction were its primary requirements. Sharing information and negotiation of meaning were also performed in activities which demanded the use of linguistic and social functional skills to meet the needs of the enthusiastic and motivated learners. The teachers were finally free to explore the means of real-life communication, encouraging and enabling the students to achieve a balance between linguistic accuracy and language fluency.
Starting from the idea that learning a foreign language begins with imitation, this set of ideas about good teaching practice emphasizes the necessity of active participation, affective involvement, task-oriented teaching and learning and the use of interactive techniques as well as authentic linguistic material to allow the learners to real a level of free production of language and use the foreign language functionally and strategically for real-world purposes of communication.
As a result of these changes, communicative teachers of English choose to focus on the functional roles of the foreign language, on its meaning and interaction potential in a larger and larger socio-cultural context. Additionally, after the European integration of Romania in January 2007, the use of English has become a social, cultural and pragmatic challenge whose unrehearsed performance surpasses the limits of the local school stage and acquires continental as well as international dimensions.
The teaching of English as a second language especially to young learners is known to require specific skills at both intellectual and emotional levels. Beginners are rightfully considered by many as the most challenging group of learners not only because of their lack of knowledge, but also because of the fact that (the attitude and teaching style of) the first English teacher usually determines whether or not the learner will like the new language and may influence his/her motivation which is paramount to any student’s success.